No. 11 Tritons' Late Rally Falls Short Against No. 8 Pepperdine, 10-9

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STANFORD, Calif. — The No. 11 University of California San Diego men’s water polo team’s late rally came up short on Friday afternoon, as the Tritons fell to No. 8 Pepperdine, 10-9, in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational.

UC San Diego (10-4, 3-1 WWPA) finished the game on a 3-0 scoring run, but ran out of time once redshirt junior Kacper Langiewicz scored with one second remaining on the clock.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Jack Turner scored his first-career goal on a spectacular shot from the length of the pool, and finished with eight saves in the net.

Junior Cooper Milton led the Tritons with a career-high three goals, including two in the third quarter, while fellow junior Skyler Munatones scored twice.

UC San Diego fell behind early, 4-0, but bounced back behind Milton’s first goal of the game, Turner’s miraculous shot and a goal by Munatones with 26 seconds left in the opening period.

Trailing 7-3 at halftime, the Tritons opened the second half with goals from Milton and Munatones. Milton followed with his third of the game with 2:08 left in the third, making the score 8-6 entering the fourth quarter.

After Pepperdine pushed its lead to 10-6, goals by sophomore Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt and redshirt sophomore Jack Ranj cut the deficit to two before Langiewicz’s score at the final buzzer.

UC San Diego returns to action on Saturday against No. RV Santa Clara beginning at 10:40 a.m., in the first of two games of the day.

The Tritons have won 10-straight games against Santa Clara, including twice last season, twice in the WWPA Tournament and four times during the 2015 season.

About UC San Diego Athletics With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 80 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 36 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.

Follow The Tritons For complete coverage and information regarding UC San Diego Athletics, follow the Tritons online at UCSDtritons.com and through social media on Twitter (@ucsdtritons), Instagram (@ucsdtritons) and Facebook (ucsdtritons).